MERCER, WI - Tuesday, July 08, 2008 - June Popko, 82, of Mercer, Wisconsin is a delightful woman. As an infant she contracted Scarlet Fever which left her totally deaf. She is a widow. She raised two sons and has several grandchildren. For years she worked at Simpson Electric in Mercer and Hurley. Yesterday, Alan Traczyk, Equipment Specialist for Deaf Services of America, and I stopped to visit June to let her know that the Range Deaf Club will start holding meetings again in the fall.

Although I am fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), Alan has never found the time to learn the language. He did his best to communicate with June, however, and she appreciated his efforts. She is a very good lip reader, and Alan was able to make himself understood. 

In addition to ASL, June is fluent in SEE signing ("SEE" is an acronym for "Signing Exact English"). SEE sign is used mostly in educational settings to teach the deaf to read and write in English. ASL, however, is the true language of the deaf. Few people, outside of the deaf community, realize that American Sign Language is a true language with it's own rules, syntax, and sentence structure. It isn't simply a "coding system" that mocks English. SEE Sign is a coding system, however, that attempts to exactly duplicate English for educational purposes. Most deaf people dislike SEE sign and they get very upset when people try to SEE sign to them. SEE sign is very cumbersome and time consuming. ASL is about communicating ideas. SEE sign is about communicating "English words" in "English word order." Most deaf people get bored waiting for SEE signers to complete their thoughts.

As we returned to Ironwood, Alan brought up a very good point. He asked me if things are getting better for the deaf due to technology. His observations were right on the money. At one time, the only way for a deaf person to communicate electronically to the outside world is to use a TTY. In order to use the TTY, the person on the other end of the line either had to have a TTY, or needed to use a "relay operator" to interpret the call.

Today, most deaf use computers; email; instant messaging; text cell phones; and they are now able to communicate freely between the deaf and the hearing. These technologies are bridging the communication gap between the hearing and the deaf.

While we were visiting June, we checked her TTY (known by the hearing community as a "TDD," it is a special text telephone that the deaf use to communicate via phone lines) to make sure it was functioning property. Deaf Services replaced her antiquated TTY several years ago.

NOTE: For those that are trying to decipher what June is signing in the slide-show above... (1) the first photo shows her signing the SEE sign for "are." In ASL helping verbs like "is" "am" and "are" are not used. (2) In the second photo she is signing "football" because she was proudly showing us photos of her football star grandson. (3) The third photo shows her signing "mother." She was explaining to us how her son and his wife met. (4) In the fourth photo she was trying to tell Alan that he as a "good" boy. Alan smiled and nodded politely. (5) In the fifth photo Alan and June are saying "I Love You!" to each other.

Deaf Services will be offering American Sign Language classes this fall at the Focus Center in Ironwood. The Chronicle will post more information on classes in the near future. Classes will be available in three levels. Level I students will learn basic sign principles along with a basic vocabulary of concepts. Level II will be for the more advanced students, and Level III students can become DSA certified interpreters. Classes may be tailored to fit educational needs; law enforcement; or basic customer service, employment training.

Many previous students have found that their ASL education is a valuable tool for career advancement. For example, I held an ASL class for several teachers a few years ago. Several of them where chosen for employment simply because they knew sign.

Jim Albert